Further information

The number of common medicines subject to stock shortages has risen sharply in recent months, causing extra work for GPs forced to find alternatives to prescribe.

Common products - including analgesics, antidepressants and antihypertensives - are among the items that have been added to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s 'price concessions' list. The list shows drugs for which the NHS has agreed to pay a temporarily higher price to prevent shortages, offering a picture of which medicines are currently low in stock.

According to the PSNC, the number of medicines in short supply has almost doubled in just two months, from 45 in October to 80 at the end of December 2018. The number of drugs on the price concessions list previously peaked in November 2017, when 91 items were subject to availability problems.